page_title: Pacific crevalle jack
section_title: Biology
hierarchical_section_title: Pacific crevalle jack / Biology
caption_attribution_description: English: Caranx caninus taken off Ecuador
context_page_description: The Pacific crevalle jack is a species of large marine fish classified in the jack family Carangidae. The species is distributed through the tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean from California in the north to Peru in the south, including several offshore islands. The species is best identified by its deep body and mostly unscaled breast, as well as other more detailed anatomical features. The species is known to grow to a maximum length of 101 cm and a weight of 19.7 kg. Disagreement on the status of the species has been significant in the scientific literature, with many claiming it to be conspecific with or subspecific to the Atlantic Caranx hippos. The most recent review of the crevalle jacks strongly concluded it to be a separate species based on the development of hyperostosis and fin colouring. It is predominantly a schooling inshore species, inhabiting sandy and rocky substrates, although larger individuals are occasionally found living pelagically to depths of 350 m. The Pacific crevalle jack is a fast-swimming predator, taking a variety of fish, crustaceans, and other small invertebrates.
context_section_description: The Pacific crevalle jack is a schooling fish for much of its life, forming moderate to large aggregations that can move quite rapidly. Older fish tend to be more solitary, moving offshore to greater depths. It is one of the most abundant pelagic species throughout its range, making it both ecologically and economically important. The species is a strong, fast swimming predator that takes predominantly small fish, as well as crustaceans such as prawns and various other benthic invertebrates, although no detailed data on diet has been collected.
  Individuals begin reaching sexual maturity at 67 cm in males and 65 cm in females, with reproduction thought to occur year-round. There are peaks in spawning activity however, with these peaks reported as January–February and August in Colombia and May and November in Mexico. The eggs are pelagic, as are the newly hatched larvae.
  Several studies on yearly growth in the species have given slightly different results, although the maximum difference between these studies is 5 cm per year.  After the first year, the species is 19.02 to 20.64 cm long, after the second it is 29.86 to 32.95 cm, and it is 36.8 to 42.44 cm long after the third year. According to the von Bertalanffy growth equations that govern the species growth, the species may live as long as 12 or 15 years, or even 37 years as calculated in one study. These growth equations are generated using the fish's otoliths, which add annual growth rings.  These also show yearly periods of slow and fast growth, with August to February having the fastest growth due to the rainy season providing increased runoff and nutrients to the coast. Slowest growth occurs during March to August, although one of the main spawning peaks occurs during this period.
caption: A Pacific crevalle jack taken by an angler off Baja California
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